Green Grids scheme can be a ‘game changer’

National Grid’s head of international decarbonisation, Craig Dyke, discusses one of the major announcements of COP26 – the One Sun One World Grid. Writing for Utility Week, he sets out what is needed to make the scheme a success and its potential to achieve secure, reliable and affordable power across the world.

During the first week of COP26, the prime ministers of the UK and India announced the Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid. The aim is to accelerate the development and deployment of interconnected electricity grids across continents, countries and communities. Underpinning this aim is an ambition to harness the full potential of renewable resources globally and transport these energy sources to areas, no matter how remote, that need it.

Put down on paper, it’s immediately clear what a huge opportunity this initiative presents in enabling people in all corners of the world to benefit from a clean energy transition, with secure, reliable and affordable power for all. Backed by over 80 countries, international collaboration is absolutely critical to driving this initiative and transforming energy systems in a way that sees greater growth, jobs and investment in a green future. But collaboration must go hand in hand with concrete steps, a clear plan of action, essentially a roadmap of ‘how this might work’, to turn the initiative into a reality and speed up decarbonisation around the world.

From expanding energy grids across regions and continents, to creating the foundations for universal access to sustainable energy. From an infrastructure perspective, there will need to be new interconnections across borders and time zones to create an international grid capable of sharing renewable energy such as wind and solar. More localised, there will need to be the creation and development of mini-grids to ensure remote villages have access to the energy needed, alongside investment in technology that can build resilience in the grid such as smart charging.

To ensure actions are aligned to the same goal, global frameworks will need to be put in place. Not only for building new interconnections, but also for putting in place mutually beneficial cross-border power trading agreements;  for investment in solar, wind, storage and other renewable energy generations; developing and deploying new techniques and technologies to modernise power systems; supporting the global shift to zero emission vehicles to help enhance grid flexibility; and to attract the investment needed to develop solar mini-grids and off-grid systems for vulnerable communities.

A body to accelerate the construction of large solar power stations and windfarms, identify the optimum locations for these and coordinate the logistics is crucial. A ministerial group will lead this process, including representatives from France, India, the UK, US with Africa, the Gulf, Latin America and Southeast Asia, with Germany and Australia also potentially joining. National Grid is playing a leading role in the initiative and supporting the secretariat with members of Parliament and Congress, UK policymakers, university researchers and international organisations such as the IEA and IRENA, all working together to support and align actions.

And we can’t forget the importance of knowledge sharing as part of the collaboration among countries. It’s not just about working together but also learning from each other’s different experiences to date, wide ranging successes and the breadth of expertise around the world.

If we get this right, we could see game changing green investments and the creation of significant number of long-term green jobs. The Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid will be transformational, helping countries reach the Paris Agreement targets, accelerate the clean energy transition and meeting the Sustainable Development goals – the scale and ambition of the project cannot be underestimated but with the right buy-in, this initiative has the potential to enable a fair and green future for all.